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Fran to her Mom & Dad; Dec. 3, 1945  Oak Ridge, TN 

16. Fran to her parents, Mr. & Mrs. F. E. Carroll, Bloomfield, Conn.

     From 118 Lee Drive, Lenoir City, Tenn.

                                                                              Monday, Dec. 3, 1945

 Dear Mother & Dad,

   Yours of the 31^st instance or instant? received and contents noted.

 Bill decided to glance in the pamphlet & magazine pigeonhole at the barracks orderly room where he seldom glances for mail since he doesn’t subscribe for The New Yorker or Saturday Evening Post or any such & along with a home-town church pamphlet collected your communiqué.  Since it was sent first class it never should have been anywhere but in the 1^st class pile but some intelligent sorter preferred to consider it 3^rd class.  We have a mailbox now in front of our house & Bill’s practically out of the army (we keep saying) so there should be no further error.  Although our box was up a couple of weeks & we were told at the post office to fill out & submit a form if we wanted the mailman to look in our box & because we didn’t get around to it & kept asking at General Delivery for our mail which worked fine up till about 8 days ago, since which time we thought no one was ever going to write, we had an overflowing box when we finally did step up to the box & look inside.  And without a form!

 I did not give your father all that screwy information.  Why would I demote Bill to private when he’s a tech sergeant?  However, it is all done now.  And he certainly (your father, that is) did not imagine I met Bill on my tour to Oakridge.  And Bill’s father may very well sue because of the lack of the Jr.  As far as duplicating such a lovely picture as was enclosed, I suppose it’s too late now, but anyway I have no costume!  We did have a snapshot of us & some fish taken.  I look charming but Bill doesn’t, though maybe I will send it just for you to see me & the fish (very small compared to our later accomplishments), but not for the paper as we are in our oldest apparel.

 What fun we’ve been having with the river.  I thought cold weather would be the end of fishing, but it seems they (the fish) strike even better then.  So we venture out with about 5 layers of clothing & sandwiches & stay far into the night.  It’s beautiful down by the dam (Lauden dam- TVA).  One of our friends went home to Chicago on furlough & left 2 rods & reels with us.  We gave them up this week.  I can see that’s going to be one of our first purchases when Bill becomes a civilian.

 We’re going to start buying furniture for (so far we’ve been living in one room, kitchen & bath & we have two more rooms to go) living room & spare bedroom next week on the strength of the fact that Bill has been offered & has accepted a job with Carbide upon discharge.

   Everything’s not just the way we want it- it couldn’t be in Oak Ridge.  You should come visit & see when we get the spare room finished.  For one minor thing we would like not to arise at 5:15 to get to work at 7:10 when we don’t have to be there till 8:00.  But there’s no other means of conveyance. 

 We still cannot make up our minds whether or not to move to the Area proper after discharge.  It would be a lot more convenient in many ways.  You could get to scientific meetings, for instance, & you’re near recreation centers.  But we hate the thought of the act of moving again & I know we’ll miss the river.  Yesterday we were down on the banks near the house (not at the dam) and a fisherman we had run into before invited us into his motorboat, and we went troll-fishing up the Little Tennessee River, as distinguished from the Tennessee.  We’d never been up that way before.  The Little Tenn. Comes down from the hills & separates into a couple slews (I believe the man- Joe- said).  We went up one, around an island, and back another dragging our lures behind us—and catching nothing.  Yesterday was a very bad day on the river.  One man caught one medium sized bass.  There are hills all around, of course, & on the islands, mainlanders keep hogs & grow corn.  Some places the shore is very little above the river & other places high rocky banks hang over the water.

 I asked Phyl to find out what standard brand of cigarette Lloyd prefers.  That’s one thing I could get at the Post Exchange.

 We do have stores down here, by the way, but the goods are either very inferior & inexpensive or inferior & expensive.

                                Love, Fran

 OVER-à

 When we were first down here I always gave 736 Blue Hills Ave. as my permanent address & that’s where our allotment check will go.  And it is not unusual that we didn’t get ours yet as sometimes it takes several months.  But with the discharge coming up, we will have to report that we haven’t had any yet.  I wish that I had not given your address because maybe the FBI will descend on you, en masse.  I mention it at all in case something should come up.  Probably won’t because the Army may have some records down here.

 Address to: Mrs. W. T. Allman, Jr.

                   118 Lee Drive

                    Lenoir City ß-(La-nore)

                    Tennessee